“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Review of 'Lust For Life' by Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey’s latest
album isn’t a total downer.

Just as the rest of the world has grown pessimistic, pop's most forlorn femme fatale has rather ironically decided to cheer up. She's even managed to break a smile on the album cover (I didn't think she was capable of that facial expression), not to mention the album title itself.

But fans of her sad side needn't worry – she hasn't embraced ukuleles just yet. Most of
these tracks revolve around familiar melancholy tales of unrequited love.
However, there are rose-tinted glimmers of joy this time around. ‘When The
World Was At War We Kept Dancing’ is a rally to keep on being happy despite
current events, whilst closing track ‘Get Free’ sees Lana singing ‘I want to move out of the black into the
blue’ with a sense of joyous liberation.

Sure, there could be a sly cynicism behind it all – it’s
hard to tell with Lana – but even so it’s given Lana’s lyricism a new
dimension, which makes this album more enjoyable that its predecessors. It’s also a lot more instrumentally
interesting.

2014’s Ultraviolence
wasn’t just depressing but impressively dull largely down to its drab production. Honeymoon contrastingly saw Lana
embracing a Bond Theme-esque backdrop of exciting orchestration topped with smoky
crooning in the style of Dusty Springfield. Now on Lust For Life, the instrumentals are even more diverse, dabbling in
hip hop on ‘Summer Bummer’ and ‘Groupie Love’ whilst taking on pianos and
guitars and string sections.

The vocal guests are a disappointment for the most part.
Whilst A$AP Rocky's performance is average, Playboi Carti’s auto-tuned whelps on ‘Summer
Bummer’ are plain irritating. Stevie Nicks meanwhile oversings her duet with Lana as if trying to outdo her younger version, whilst Sean Ono Lennon just sounds like he’s trying to
be his dad (can’t kids of famous musicians carve out their own sound?).

Fortunately, Lana’s newfound vocal agility makes up for
this. 'White Mustang’ and ‘In My Feelings’ are some of her most beautifully sung ballads to date, whilst ‘Get
Free’'s chorus is her most sunshiny (even if the opening chord progression is ripped straight from Radiohead’s ‘Creep’).